1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric stapler, and more particularly to an electric stapler having an apparatus that will completely bend the legs of staples to staple an object such as pieces of paper or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
Electric staplers conveniently fasten pieces of paper or the like together. A conventional stapler uses a conventional clinching mechanism to drive staples into objects, such as pieces of paper. The staples are typically U-shaped and have two pointed legs that penetrate the pieces of paper, extend out of the pieces of paper and are bent to hold the pieces of paper together.
The conventional clinching mechanism comprises a drive element and a stationary anvil. The drive element drives a staple out of a staple magazine in the stapler so that the pointed legs will penetrate and extend out of the object and press against the stationary anvil. The stationary anvil is positioned under the drive element and has two concave recesses. The concave recesses are positioned respectively in the path of the extended pointed legs of the staple to bend the legs of the staple. The extended legs pass respectively into the concave recesses and bend along the concave recesses to fasten the object.
When the object is too thin, the bent legs may bend back completely and protrude back through the object. The legs protruding from the object constitute a hazard to people handling the stapled object.
When a stack of objects is too thick, the legs may not protrude sufficiently through the stack of objects to be completely bent by the concave recesses. The incompletely bent legs constitute a hazard to people handling the stapled paper stack.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides an electric stapler having an apparatus to completely bend the legs of staples to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.